Where I'm From

I’m from the next state over.

In one of the shadows of the largest cities in the world.

Where the bourgeois and proletariat exist in tight pockets side by side

But reluctantly intermingle.

You may have your skyscrapers

But where I’m from, our houses never go higher than two stories

And even the tallest buildings are only three or four.

the other neighbors are rows and rows of corn and soybeans.

I’m from the four seasons, but not equally divided.

Winter is from October to May and the sun shines only when it wants to

And it doesn’t want to that often.

Where I’m from, we ask the one obvious question that nobody really cares about

but everyone has the same answer for:

“So how about this weather?”

Where I’m from we all share the same inside joke,

except it’s no joke

and no one is laughing,

but we all nod our heads in understanding.

Where I’m from our “g”’s disappear and we are left runnin’ and wonderin’. Or wanderin’

And our drawls get drawn out.

I always felt like I’m from the north but more people sound southern to me

Where I’m from.

There is a quote I’m forgetting about a person’s “true colors”

But where I’m from it’s more about a long, slow adaptation

Into a mold you never intended to occupy

When we say “Sox” we all know we mean white not red.

Although I see more Blue “W” and Cubs flags than anything

there are always a smattering of American and Confederate flags also.

Where I’m from.

I’m from the prettier and more colorful sunsets because of the industrial smog.

And the dandelions being the official flower.

And the many varieties of weeds that resiliently grow through the cracks in the streets and sidewalks.

Greens and browns and sometimes a yellow, sometimes a soft purple.

We might be going through a change

Or maybe the change is going through us.

Or maybe we’re stuck?

I keep threatening for so many years to leave, maybe a Carolina

But as of today, I’m still right here.